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Clare Malone

Clare Malone is the web editor at The American Prospect.

Recent Articles

Why Mitt Romney Needs to Get His Instagram On

The presumptive nominee should follow in the footsteps of Ayatollah Khameini.

Clare MaloneAug 02, 2012
(Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

To say that Mitt Romney has a "Richie Rich" image problem might just be the political understatement of the century; there is the Romney-residence “car elevator,” Ann’s dressage horses, the bevy of offshore bank accounts, and the fact that some of his dearest friends own NASCAR teams. It ain’t the best time in American history to ooze money from all your orifices, but if you’re going to run for public office while doing so, you might at least desist with the robotic consultant-speak.

The Graceful Ghetto of Women’s Sports

We've become accustomed to seeing female athletes compete in events like gymnastics and swimming, but we're far less comfortable when they play "men's sports."

Clare MaloneJul 27, 2012
(Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Navy)

This year marks the first time that the Olympics will feature women’s boxing, news that heartens feminists and strikes fear in the hearts of men made in the mold of Jennifer Lopez’s (fictional) abusive husband in Enough. One would think that female competition in a blood sport like boxing would mean that we’d gotten a smidge closer to the elusive equality of the sexes—and in some ways, we have—but the recent controversy over what women should wear while boxing shows we’re not quite there yet. 

Let's Not Make Sally Ride a Gay Icon

Let’s remember her for what she cared about most—women in the sciences.

Clare MaloneJul 24, 2012
(Wikimedia Commons/National Archives and Records Administration)

A single line in Sally Ride’s obituary has caused a lot of fuss over the last day—the fact that she spent the last 27 years of her life with another woman. It’s a bit of a shame that the buzz of the public revelation has taken away from what it seems Dr. Ride would have preferred her legacy to be: pushing young women into careers in math and science.

For Penn State, Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?

A debate over the NCAA's decision to strip the school of its winning record.

Clare Malone AND Monica PottsJul 24, 2012
Penn State's Football Team (Flickr/copa41)

Yesterday, the NCAA announced the sanctions it would impose on the Penn State football program after an independent investigation found university administrators—including football coach Joe Paterno—had covered up instances of child rape and systematic sexual abuse by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The school is being fined $60 million—the approximate amount of its annual revenues from football—as well as being stripped of its titles and wins for 14 years. Some have questioned whether the broad scope of the sanctions, which punish players who may have had no knowledge of the abuse, is fair. The Prospect's Monica Potts and Clare Malone debate the issue.

Extreme Makeover: Voting Edition

Clare MaloneJul 12, 2012
(Flickr/jugbo)

Elections, like baseball, are a simple game; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains. The rules are fairly intuitive to Americans from an early age. You’ve got your primaries, where the family engages in rousing infighting, and then the general election, where the guy or gal with the best power suit and tasteful red accessories wins. You vote for one candidate and get the hell out. The plebs always get stickers, and the senior citizens running the polls are guaranteed to be real pieces of work. It is democracy as the ancient Athenians must have imagined—only in their wildest dreams.

But could there be another way to do it? Indeed. The fact is, there is more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to voting. Without further ado, we present some different flavors of democracy in action. 

What the heck is Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)?

Also sporting the moniker “ranked choice voting” (catchy, eh?), this mode of voting is all about "win, place, show." Voters are given a list of candidates and must pick their No. 1. Then, they go on to choose a runner-up and a second runner-up. By expressing ranked preference on a ballot, the need for a separate runoff election at a later date is eliminated. 

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